True Colours
by slashhack
Summary: Eight-year-old Might Guy has a heart-to-heart with a certain Toad Sage, and gets some good advice and some Bad Habits. Quite short, not as funny as i wish it were, NOT Guy/Jiraiya. A prequel to my upcoming Kakairu Fest entry. You really ought to read it.


**I see your true colours, shining through…**

****

Guy scooted farther out on the branch, craning awkwardly to get a better look at his hero. Oh! The joy of watching a shinobi in his top form, a prime predator on the prowl, surely one of the greatest ninja who ever lived! The Yellow Flash was dazzling in the sunlight, his bright colours flashing in an altogether un-ninja-like fashion. He appeared to be teaching the sulky monochromatic Hatake Kakashi something involving massive outpourings of chakra. Guy sighed- he just didn't LIKE using so much chakra, it felt unnatural to him. He depended on training his muscles, his balance, his speed, all without the chakra boosts that so many other genin were starting to use. He just didn't trust it, not after… When chakra failed, when it ran out, and you were so used to having it there that you had no backup… He had seen what happened to shinobi whom chakra had failed. He would master it, he _would_, but nothing would force him to depend on it.

He nearly fell out of the tree in shock when he realized that there was an extremely large man on the branch with him. He'd been so deep in thought he'd never noticed the other's approach. Well, he supposed he wouldn't have noticed anyway- it was the sannin, the Toad Sage, Jiraiya.

"Ah," the man laughed, "Guy-kun, this is not as interesting a view as I was hoping for!" Guy stared for a moment, taken aback, and blushed bright scarlet when he realized what the infamous pervert meant.

"NO! Oh, no, Sannin-sama, nothing like that! I was just watching…" He trailed off as he turned back to the training pair in the field beyond his perch. "I just wish… I could be so…"

The man frowned in thought. It seemed reasonable that the boy would envy his peer. The Hatake boy, Kakashi, was a genius by all accounts, and was held up by every sensei as an example to their students. Still, it pulled at Jiraiya's heart to see the poor kid with such dead eyes. Gone grey before his time, he thought wryly, just like me. This intense young man beside him had already graduated from the Academy the year prior, and seemed determined to follow in the silver-haired boy's footsteps. "He is a fine ninja, but there is nothing wrong with having a childhood, Guy-kun. Don't dash past your youth, it is an invaluable time which you will never regain." Guy didn't respond immediately, still staring out at the pair.

"No, not him. Namikaze-sensei. He's just so, so beautiful…"

Jiraiya gazed out at his former student. Minato was bright as the sun, far too cheerful to be a professional killer, far too kind to be a weapon of war. Somehow an excellent ninja, despite embodying everything he was not supposed to be. It often seemed that the village did not trust him- probably because of that juxtaposition. "That, child, is the Majestic Incandescence of Youth." Guy peered wide-eyed up at him, entranced, and Jiraiya continued. "The Yellow Flash, in his Blossoming Springtime of Manliness, is an inspiration to all of us. Don't be afraid to shine, Guy-kun, but let the clouds of childhood drift away in their own time."

The boy was still, apparently deep in thought. Jiraiya watched him, wondering what he was thinking. Guy was always so fervently passionate. He would be a great ninja someday, like his mother had been before she blew her chakra system. The sage knew that watching her crumble affected the boy, probably provided as much drive as his competition with Kakashi. It had certainly given him some strong views about chakra, and a shinobi's reliance on it. Might Aki almost hadn't made it home- and when she finally did she was broken beyond repair, nearly helpless, but determined to be there for her son. She taught him never to give up, that no matter how much opposition one faces, one must always smile and keep moving forward. It was a good philosophy, one which Jiraiya fully endorsed. Facing overwhelming forces with bravery and cheer- that's how heroes were made.

Guy's eyes were glazing over as he continued to watch the young man on the training field. His voice held a hint of despair as he whispered, "I'll never be that bright, that talented." Jiraiya smiled gently at the boy.

"We can only measure our worth against ourselves. Every man is different- you must simply be the best YOU that you can be. Konoha already has a Minato, we need a Guy. If he is our invaluable Yellow Flash, well, then you can be our Magnificent Green Beast."

Sunshine dawned across the boy's face as he thought about this. "And… if there are those who are best at ninjustsu, or genjutsu, then.. Then there must be those that are best at taijutsu, too? There are people who use more chakra, or less, or none?"

Jiraiya nodded, breaking into a grin. "It's like a rainbow- it doesn't work without all of the colours."

Guy nodded, absently, popped to his feet on the branch, then beamed at Jiraiya and flashed him a thumbs-up. "Of course, Sannin-Sama, I understand!" He leapt down from his perch. In the distance, Minato and Kakashi had finished their training, and were packing up. Jiraiya stood as well, stretched, and landed silently beside Guy.

The boy was muttering something, repeating like a mantra, and it took Jiraiya a moment to realize that the boy was chanting his own words- "Incandescence of Youth, Springtime of Manliness, Don't Be Afraid to Shine… Mighty Green Beast…" Jiraiya chuckled to himself. He really needed to keep up with his writing, it helped with curb flair for the dramatic. It seemed that he'd gotten carried away again, speaking in flamboyant platitudes- honestly, no one actually_ talked_ like that…

*

*

*

*

so don't be afraid

to let them show

your true colours

true colours are beautiful

like a rainbow

****

Notes: So, for reasons still mostly unknown to me, I decided to join in on the Kakairu_fest on LiveJournal. As per the rules, I shall remain anonymous with my actual submission, and unless you are either 1. A time traveler from the future who reads crappy fan fiction about secondary Naruto characters or 2. Me, you will not even be able to guess WHICH prompt I've claimed from this. This is a prequel to my K/I fest story, which I suppose I will post here after the un-anonymous-ing. I decided to break it out into it's own little piece because

-it contains no Iruka

-it contains only a minute amount of Kakashi

-it contains no Kakairu AT ALL

-it has nothing to do with anything, and you do not need to know anything about anything happening in here to understand the K/I story. I just have a compulsive need to write more backstory than anyone asked for (or, frankly, wanted.)

-it would appear that Fanfiction-dot-net has exactly ONE story under the Guy/Jiraiya filter, and it is yaoi. (oh dear.)

**TRIVIA: **I was going to call this "Rainbow Connection" but that sounds retarded and also doesn't make a lot of sense in the context of this piece as a stand-alone. Then I looked up the lyrics to "True Colours" and I was like, man. That's a pretty appropriate song for this fic, even though I hate it. Thanks, Cyndi Lauper. Somehow, I find you totally appropriate as a musical representation for Guy.


End file.
